Please tell me what to preach about

This video is a request for help. I am looking for people who are not involved in any church to tell me a worthwhile topic upon which to base a sermon. I will play your video response in church and preach a sermon based on it. See instructions in the video. Sermons will be posted on www.knoxknotes.com. Please vote on video responses by rating them.

Edit: No video responses yet -- but i've got some intriguing responses as reddit, e.g. Just wanted to say that I'd love video responses but will deal with written ones.

Category:

Education

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• sermon
• preaching
• secular
• church
• topic
• help
• Presbyterian
• minister

[donpepe90]

I should clarify my position. I'm a former Christian, the reason I started questioning my faith was because of passages like the ones I posted. I've read responses to them by people like William Lane Craig who basically say the Canaanites had it coming because they worshiped false gods.  I could never accept these kinds of answers.

Anyway I like your style, I've never made a video before so if you're up to talking about biblical atrocities I'm willing to gather the courage to make a video.

[knoxknotes]

@donpepe90 I appreciate your position! I am quite familiar with those passages. In fact, a couple of years ago I did a whole series of sermons on passages like that that i most hate and wish weren't there at all.

I don't know W. L. Craig but I disagree with him on this. I would be cautious about saying that something is endorsed (or not condemned) in a certain context in the Bible that automatically means that God is okay with it. If you're up to it, i'd be happy to have a go at atrocities!

[RainStyle967]

Great, even more fiction to add to the internet!

[knoxknotes]

@RainStyle967 You know, I don't really get that. People seem to think it is a great insult to call something related to faith "fiction."

How is that a bad thing? I love fiction. It is my favourite kind of reading and I dare say that there is more truth in good fiction than in lots of other bad non-fiction.

Also, fiction is a genre that was created centuries after the Bible was written so what could comparing it to fiction possibly teach us?

[donpepe90]

How about a sermon on why a just and moral god would advocate things like slavery, genocide, punishment of children for their parents crimes, rape, human sacrifice ext.

[knoxknotes]

@donpepe90 Well, I can hardly preach that because I do not believe that God requires any such thing from us. God must be just as appalled as us that people would do such things in God's name.

If you are serious, though, it might make a good sermon to look at the question of how people get away with doing such things in God's name.

[brainfoodlunch]

Do a sermon about how there is absolutely no evidence for the existence of any supernatural being. Explain to your congregation how the concept of "faith" is quite literally means an irrational belief without the backing of any valid supporting evidence whatsoever. Be sure to impress upon them the fact that because religious faith is completely irrational it should not be considered a "virtue."

[JustaBCgirlsOpinion]

Why can't we separate church and state (government) ? Why does church have to be involved in medical matters? I have yet to meet one church person in favour of stem cell research. I can remember the days of 'the evils' of test tube babies. Now it's a viable option for couples having trouble getting pregnant to try invetro fertilization. God didn't invent stupid people, we are supposed to evolve. Why try and stop the progress?

P.S. Good idea asking for ideas from the non-church goers.

[brainfoodlunch]

Show your congregation this video by Evid3nc3; watch?v=dsAZSz2Yb_8

[Matthew1944]

@Matthew1944 Page 2) There are also those, mostly fundamentalists who carry a great deal of hate toward other denomonations and other religions and feel the need to aggressively push their "truth" on those around them, judgemental and aggressive. That turns people away every time. These are the pharisees of today who talk the talk but don't do the walk in their OWN lives.

[Matthew1944]

How about a sermon on the dangers of extremism in the Christian Church such as breeds people like the Phelps in the states or has contributed to the over 175,000 arrest AND CONVICTIONS of people who are carrying out violence in the name of God. To protect yourself, Rev. McAndless , you should also familiarize yourself with steeplejacking that is being done mostly in the US but will be here before long no doubt, and inform your congregation should a steeplejacker strike your church.

[donpepe90]

@knoxknotes

I'm talking about the character of Yehweh / Jesus, these passages come from his book:

Slavery: 1 Peter 2:18, Exodus 21:2-6, Exodus 21:20-2, Ephesians 6:5

Genocide: 1 Samuel 15:3, Deuteronomy 2:33-34, Deuteronomy 20:16-17, Joshua 11:20

Punishment of children for parents crimes: Revelation 2:22-23,

Rape: Judges 21:10-24, Numbers 31:7-18, Deuteronomy 21:10-14

Human Sacrifice: Judges 11, 1 Kings 13:1-2,

Oppression of Women: Ephesians 5:22, 1 Timothy 2:12